By Elita, Outreach Worker in St. James Town
Teens in St. James Town studying scripture
This summer, I had the privilege of watching a group of my TLCs (Teens Leading Communities) dig into scripture. We did a weekly Bible study and instead of having me lead them, we came up with a list of questions on the very first day that they could ask while reading any passage. I passed off the facilitation to a few older and capable teens and watched the Spirit move.
One of the passages we read was 2 Kings 6: 8-23 where Elisha's servants' eyes are opened, as are the Arameans who were struck blind when attacking Elisha. The opening of eyes was exactly what happened this summer. When our teens discovered that Abraham sacrificing Isaac foreshadows Jesus, they began to get excited. "Does every passage really point to Christ?" they asked. Sure enough, week after week, they saw the unity of scripture and it got to the point where they showed up and said, "I can't wait to see how this Old Testament passage ties in with Jesus!" Even teens who were not scheduled to come volunteer that day would show up at lunch (I'll admit they came to hang out with their friends who were on lunch break) and stayed for Bible study.
Going forward this year, our team has felt the call to renew our commitment to preaching the gospel and making disciples. To that end, we will make efforts to tweak our programs in a way that allows for even more opportunities to share Christ. We hope to additionally pick several teens who are ready to dig deeper and to mentor and disciple them intentionally. Please pray with us in these efforts, that many would be won to Christ and would build a foundation that would last beyond even their own lifetime.